[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

The story behind
Platformines (developed by Magiko Soft and coming out on 28
th March) is one full of surprises and intrigue! Thanks
to this first “Dev. Diary”, players will get the chance
to see how a developer comes up with new ideas.

When asked about the origin of their game and the engine behind
it, Cedric and Ludovic (the co-founders) said: “
Back in 2011,
after several months of hard work, we had built a solid 2D
platformer engine. It had allowed us to notably release
"Platformance: Castle Pain" and "Platformance: Temple Death",
2 games that were well appreciated by the gamers, especially
hardcore ones. We had also developed a technology which allowed us
to explore a seamless world (no in-game loading)”.

After those small and highly motivating successes, Magiko Soft
started to think about the idea of creating a platformer that takes
place in a huge seamless world! When asked about the first
prototype born from this idea, one of the developers said
“I remember a gigantic world composed of only little
linear platforms, with a target to reach. I remember my 9 years old
nephew would play for hours in this minimal world!”

From September 2011, the two friends would start to meet-up more
often and started to have a better idea of the first step for
Platformines’ design: “
Unlike a well-known game based on blocks, we thought about the
fog: Rather than discovering new areas by deleting existing blocks,
why not simply fill the world with fog :)? Then you only need to
remove this fog when you have discovered a zone, and you obtain an
environment that allows fluid movements and keeps the pleasure of
exploration!”

Then Ludovic and Cedric thought that it was time to think about
the second step: the randomly generated worlds! “
After several attempts, a prototype showed us that we had to
consider a world based on 1000x1000 blocks squares! We then started
to work on several ways to build those block-based environments.
Soon after those experiments, we managed to create a generic 2D
algorithm to match blocks, and we also found a way to build new
zones by juxtaposing predefined patterns”

According to the developers, the next step was all about magic,
“C
hanging the parameters and realizing what kind of world we can
obtain was absolutely astounding! We started to note all the most
interesting parameters and patterns in order to apply them for the
final game”.

The French team behind Magiko Soft began its indie adventure in
2010 before officially founding the independent video game
development company in November 2012. The studio has released two
platformer games, "Platformance: Castle Pain" and
"Platformance: Temple Death". Loving the simplicity of the 2D games
from the 80s, the team also took inspiration from modern games
for the design of Platformines. More information about the company
and its products can be found at
http://www.magikogaming.com/

About NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe S.A.S.

NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe S.A.S., part of NAMCO BANDAI Holdings
Inc., is a leading global publisher and developer of interactive
content for platforms including all major video game consoles and
PC, with marketing and sales operations in 50 countries across
Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia. The company
is known for creating and publishing many of the industry’s
top video game franchises, including PAC-MAN™, Tekken™,
SOULCALIBUR™, NARUTO™, NARUTO
SHIPPUDEN™, Dragon Ball®, GALAGA™, RIDGE
RACER™ and ACE COMBAT™. More information about
the company and its products can be found at
www.namcobandaigames.eu or
www.facebook.com/namcobandaigames.europe.